Here in the western US, I finished reading the December issue last night. In a way, it matters little to me when each issue arrives, just that it does so. Years ago I looked forward to the arrival of every issue, then for too many years it didn't really matter much, but now I again look forward to seeing each issue. As advertising support has faded, most American automotive enthusiast magazines have turned to near-worthless pap. Kudos to the Motor Sport staff for turning it back into a magazine worth reading!

Well said Frank. The former number one of US car magazines, Road & Track, has turned into an embarrassment. Month after month of the same dreck, nothing but road tests of various indistinguishable sedans, all praised because the mag does not want to hack off the advertisers which remain. The Track portion has virtually disappeared. The only thing worthwhile in that mag now is the Peter Egan column and occasional article.

I notice that its circulation is down from over 700,000 to the 500,000 range. Must be a reason for that.

Likewise, second month running and third time in last 6 months that it's been in WH Smiths upto 7 days before my subscription copy. I was holding off complaining thinking it was just me living in the sticks but seems not!!

Saw the Feb issue out already and seems there is an article on Nuvolari. Anyone know if this is any good ? Not read much on him and always keen to find out more.

This issue hasn't come through my letterbox yet, so I don't know if it's good or not.

However, in all probability it will be. At least 90% of the magazine always is. If you're wanting to learn, go ahead and buy it. In fact, subscribe. Subjects I never would have thought of looking up have appeared in Motor Sport and they have all been fascinating.

It's worth the cover price for Roebuck, Boddy and Nye's columns anyway IMHO. The articles and other features are just a big bonus on top.

Saw the Feb issue out already and seems there is an article on Nuvolari. Anyone know if this is any good ? Not read much on him and always keen to find out more.

It's an excellent article entitled "On the trail of Tazio" by Rob Widdows concerning a new exhibition in his home town of Mantua paying tribute to his skills behind both wheel and camera.Motor Sport is a wonderful publication but I would never dream of subscribing to it; I've had my off the shelf copy for almost a week already, and read it cover to cover!

The quality and enjoyment of the Piper article is an especial bonus for me as this month's issue marks the 600th copy of MS which I have bought, and completes my 50 years as a reader of the magazine. My thanks to all who have made it so enjoyable over the half century.Exits stage left to collect gold watchRoger Lund

I am not one to complain, but it seems unfortunate that the non-arrival of the current issue on my doormat is delaying the start of my 52nd year of MS readership, made even worse when I saw it on the racks in Waitrose prior to last weekend. It is nothing to do with the adverse weather, since the usual unwanted junkmail post continues to grace my doorway with tedious regularity, and the other periodicals to which I subscribe have all arrived in a timely fashion, early even.Patience is a virtue, especially, as others have said, when the content is not insistently topical. Perhaps I could borrow Tony Gallagher's copy...Roger Lund

It was our turn in the South West to have a dumping of snow so my copy of the magazine has yet to find its way to Nynehead via the Royal Mail. Such a pity as is it is always a good read.

As the editor of the magazine peruses this thread regularly perhaps he would like to explain why UK subscribers are always the last to receive their copies. It is normally the opposite for those who subscribe to a publication. Cannot something be done about this - the distributors need to get their act together.

Finally to digress, I note that the subscriber element of the Autosport website currently features articles on Audi and Cart / IRL - yet the latest hard copy issue of the Austosport magazine is just full of pap and dross - exception being that really moving Surtees article and the remembrance of others who passed away during the past year. Obviously this edition went to press pre Christmas and there is nothing to add to it that was not identified in the previous issue but really this current issue is really a cop-out. Next to come in January will be page after page of filler on the Autosport show at the NEC!

I do believe the readership is being short-changed these days - obviously Haymarket is trying to generate income across the board - magazines / online - by spreading their butter thinly! No wonder sales of the magazine are in decline - yes, I know it is a trend across many magazines, but this indifference is just another waymark in the sad decline of what was once a very good and eagerly awaited publication. Therefore, it is very much appreciated that those who output Motor Sport continue to swim against the tide of lazy and tired journalism.

I do believe the readership is being short-changed these days - obviously Haymarket is trying to generate income across the board - magazines / online - by spreading their butter thinly! No wonder sales of the magazine are in decline - yes, I know it is a trend across many magazines, but this indifference is just another waymark in the sad decline of what was once a very good and eagerly awaited publication. Therefore, it is very much appreciated that those who output Motor Sport continue to swim against the tide of lazy and tired journalism.

Mine arrived this morning.Worth waiting for.Several excellent articles including one by Desire Wilson,with a lot of background to her racing efforts.Those who have not received their copies must blame the postal system /current weather I guess.Never did understand why it arrives a month before cover date.Sky magazines for JANUARY only arrived yesterday,which was first post since Dec24.

As the editor of the magazine peruses this thread regularly perhaps he would like to explain why UK subscribers are always the last to receive their copies. It is normally the opposite for those who subscribe to a publication. Cannot something be done about this - the distributors need to get their act together.

errrr, we in the States are still waiting to have our January issues delivered while you are arguing over February.Tom

errrr, we in the States are still waiting to have our January issues delivered while you are arguing over February.Tom

Well, we cannot have the colonies receiving a better service than the mother country!

Seriously, all this pre-month issue dating is really getting ridiculous. One of the magazine we regularly advertise in is now going over to a four weekly publication cycle rather than a month. So, in some months there will be two issues. This is partly to beat the opposition and partly to increase revenues.

I for one always bought MS on the basis of whether it had anything I wanted to read in it, but last year I succumbed to a tempting VSCC offer of two years' subscription to gain a free copy of the older years of MS on a DVD. So far both aspects of the deal have disappointed save perhaps for the Roebuck expose on what's really wrong with F1, namely the iron grip that was Ecclestone's being passed surruptitiously to my bank of forty plus years, RBS, which explains the everpresent logo in almost every frame...

Having read Roebuck, I don't bother to watch this game any more as its not a game played by rules any normal mortal can understand, and when finally the right person wins, they are usually disqualified for infringement of some silly rule or other...

Also the DVD is poorly scanned and not properly cross referenced so one might as well read it from end to end as the sort of thing I was hoping to find is never searchable...

So maybe my postman would agree to cut out the middleman and just post my copy in my bin which hansn't been emptied yet!!

I apologise for the late delivery of the February issue. When we returned to the office this week we faced many complaints from subscribers. We made some enquiries to our printer only to be told the issue had been mailed on time. It must be the effects of Christmas post and the bad weather, we thought. But we have subsequently been told that it was indeed mailed late - on December 31 rather than December 23, as was scheduled.

I cannot tell you all how angry I am right now. We will be conducting a thorough investigation into why this happened and will do everything in our power to stop it happening again. I am more than aware that our distribution in the UK has serious flaws, but it is not something anyone here is ignoring. In fact, we are about to bring our subscriptions department in-house.

At most magazines, sub departments are run by separate companies, which is why, when you phone the subs number, you end up speaking to someone who knows very little about the magazine in question. As we are a small, independently-owned magazine, we've decided to change this. A subs assistant started in our office in December and a new manager is joining us later this month. In future, all subs calls will be handled in our own office. The issues will still be distributed by the printer (there's no way we can physically do so from our office and logistically it would only add to the delivery time), but we will have full control of the database and should be able to react to problems faster and more directly. It's going to be a new challenge for us, but I think it will be worth it. Hopefully you'll all benefit from an improved and more personal service, which should be fully functional by the spring.

On the US problems, we are continuing our review of how we can improve the service. The January issue was mailed earlier this week and the February issue will be following in the next couple of weeks. We are trying to bring the service closer into line with the UK so that eventually American readers will receive the most recent copy just a couple of weeks after the British readers. It is not the work of a moment, but we will get there.

Tidying up both the UK and overseas distribution is a priority for 2010. Please do continue to give me your feedback because it is useful.

Once again, I am very sorry for the problems. It is not a good way to start the new year and I want answers from our printers because it reflects very badly on Motor Sport.

As the editor of the magazine peruses this thread regularly perhaps he would like to explain why UK subscribers are always the last to receive their copies. It is normally the opposite for those who subscribe to a publication. Cannot something be done about this - the distributors need to get their act together.

Begging your pardon, but this is total nonsense. I gave up my subscription for delivery to France solely because of the long delivery time, which was usually about three weeks from publication.

Begging your pardon, but this is total nonsense. I gave up my subscription for delivery to France solely because of the long delivery time, which was usually about three weeks from publication.

My post was in respect of the situation in the UK market although the wording might appear contradictory - one can understand the reasoning why subscribers in Europe and overseas countries might see a slight delay in receiving their copies. However, it is pretty lamentable that the English Channel appears to have the characteristics of an ocean in hampering delivery by three weeks to customers in France.

My post was in respect of the situation in the UK market although the wording might appear contradictory - one can understand the reasoning why subscribers in Europe and overseas countries might see a slight delay in receiving their copies. However, it is pretty lamentable that the English Channel appears to have the characteristics of an ocean in hampering delivery by three weeks to customers in France.

I

You posted "As the editor of the magazine peruses this thread regularly perhaps he would like to explain why UK subscribers are always the last to receive their copies."You think "the wording might appear contradictory"Seems more defamatory than contradictory.

You posted "As the editor of the magazine peruses this thread regularly perhaps he would like to explain why UK subscribers are always the last to receive their copies."You think "the wording might appear contradictory"Seems more defamatory than contradictory.

Defamatory - come on, hardly. Based on performance over the past year as far as I am concerned. Anyway, good on Damien Smith to visit us and explain.

As the editor of the magazine peruses this thread regularly perhaps he would like to explain why UK subscribers are always the last to receive their copies. It is normally the opposite for those who subscribe to a publication. Cannot something be done about this - the distributors need to get their act together.

Begging your pardon, but this is total nonsense. I gave up my subscription for delivery to France solely because of the long delivery time, which was usually about three weeks from publication.

I think the following explains Retriever's intention in posting the original comment.

My post was in respect of the situation in the UK market although the wording might appear contradictory

I agree. I currently subscribe to several motor racing magazines and Motor Sport is the only one that regularly arrives on my doormat AFTER the WH Smith's branch in town has it for sale.

As a subscriber I would like my copy to arrive prior to the magazine going on sale to the general public. Other magazines can manage this why not Motor Sport?

I really don't understand this - if you want MS but are not a subscriber, buy it when it appears in your local newsagent. If you are a subscriber, wait until it drops onto your doormat, then enjoy it. If you are not happy with delivery times - unsubscribe. If the magazine is so important that cancelling a subscription an unbearable thought, wait.

Damien Smith has explained what the problems are and his plans to improve the situation - I don't see that he can do much more, and at least you now know that someone in a position to make changes has listened and cares. We're not talking about waiting for kidney dialysis...

I don't know when it appears in the shops as I never look. I don't look at the next publication date as to be honest I'm not really bothered. As long it arrives on my once a month and more importantly the content is good - which it generally is - then I'm happy.

I do think that trying to publish a magazine between Christmas and New Year is not the best idea as the country seems to grind to a halt for a few days, even without the white stuff falling down. Part of my business is putting together ad pages for a couple of magazines, and this time of year is always difficult to coordinate each department.